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Edmund Milgrain
Edmund Milgrain was the fifth Council Premier of Daravia. He was elected for three terms, beginning in 247 DR. Early life Edmund was born to a family of rural millers in Grovesia in 201 DR. The youngest of four sons, he was not expected to be hugely successful, but the death of Edmund's father in a 211 barn fire caused significant upheaval in the family. Edmund's sixteen-year-old brother, Warren, moved to the city of Orenvale later in the year; his intent was to earn enough money to support the family's rebuilding of their farm. On this move, Warren also brought Edmund, introducing Edmund to city life. In 212, Edmund acquired an apprenticeship to a scribe. Through this job, Edmund became literate, and quickly distinguished himself by his speedy and accurate recording. This led Quenton Harvester, one of Grovesia's parliamentary councilmen, to select Edmund as a personal scribe in 216. Working under Harvester, Edmund became passionately interested in governance; he started trying to teach himself about the parliament, both through his work with Harvester and through independent research. Through the 220s, Edmund started saving money to fund a parliamentary campaign of his own. He first campaigned unsuccessfully in 227; then, in 232, Quenton Harvester retired, and endorsed Edmund as a successor. This allowed Edmund to win a parliamentary seat in 232 by a comfortable margin. Parliamentary career Edmund entered the council at a tumultuous time; the recent reelection of Yorick Alkesman had been unpopular, and a populist faction led by Jed Greyrock was opposing Yorick at every turn. Edmund agreed with most of Jed's policies, but was uncomfortable with his obstructionism— thus, while Edmund rarely supported Jed publicly, they tended to vote similarly. For most of his first term, Milgrain was a fairly undistinguished politician; however, after the blinding of Edmund Greyrock in 237, Milgrain called upon his connections in the scribing world to secure an interpreter for the blinded politician. This attracted the attention of Jed Greyrock, who began working closely with Milgrain in the following term. Milgrain proved to be a moderating influence on Jed, helping reduce the obstructionism in the parliament. In 242, Jed Greyrock was elected to the premiership himself; Edmund came to work closely under Jed during this term, helping with the implementation of Jed's citizenship bill. Through this position, Edmund came to be one of the most prominent Greyrockist politicians in parliament; thus, when Jed announced his retirement, Edmund was quick to stand for the premiership of 247. Premiership The recent discovery of salt on Rubinau became one of the major issues of the election; Edmund proposed using the salt domestically and subsidizing the creation of salt mines, which proved popular enough to win him the election. He became closely involved with the salt distribution commission, and was able to provide reliable flows of salt to most regions of the Daravian empire. In 249, Princess Laurel— the heir apparent— became engaged to Anders Orendras, an aristocrat originally from Grovesia. This shared origin allowed Edmund to become close to Anders, and through him Laurel, bringing the parliament into close cooperation with the royal family. When Laurel II died in 251, Princess Laurel acceded the throne as Laurel III, causing Edmund to become even more closely linked to royal power. In 252, Edmund's closeness to the reigning queen saw him easily reelected; upon his election, Laurel also granted him access to her recently-created Iurnilis Nobiliani. ''This document, a journal of exploitable information about the aristocracy, was employed by Edmund periodically for blackmail purposes; Edmund had maintained his staunch populism, and used ''Iurnilis gossip as needed to quell noble resistance. This made Edmund increasingly unpopular among more conservative factions in the parliament, but he had a strong enough base and support from the crown, ushering him into a third term in 257. In 258, Laurel III died; Edmund was highly affected by her death and became withdrawn. Anders Orendras became the regent at this time, and coped with the death by throwing himself deeper into his festivals; this led to a divide between Anders and Edmund, leading Edmund to become disconnected from the crown. During this term, Edmund also ceded many of his salt commission duties to Carloman Fisher, who ended up promoting salt exportation. Ultimately, these factors led to a collapse in Edmund's popularity, and in the 262 election he was soundly defeated by Allan Pickman. Personal life & later life Edmund married Kathleen Candler in 229 after a brief courtship. They shared a sense of diligence, so although by all accounts they were close, Edmund and Kathleen both spent significant amounts of time working in their respective fields. They would go on to have four surviving children throughout the 230s. During the early years of Edmund's premiership, his schmoozing with royalty caused difficulty in his marriage, but the couple stayed together and appear to have recovered from their difficulties. However, primary sources show that Kathleen was highly appreciative of Edmund's retirement. The two returned to Grovesia in 262, and had a manor built on the property of Edmund's childhood farm— Edmund and Kathleen lived out their lives there, as did Edmund's nephew Lewin, who had come to inherit the property. Kathleen died in 270 of a fever, driving Edmund to largely retreat from the public eye; however, he returned briefly in the 280s to decry the actions of King Victor I prior to and during the Rubo-Daravian War. Edmund ultimately lived to the age of ninety, and died of heart failure in the spring of 292. Category:Daravians Category:Elected Officials Category:Parliament Heads